Zombified!
by Jedi-Espada
Summary: It started as a normal school day, until the Zombies came. Now Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Ishida, Tatsuki, Keigo, Ulquiorra, & Grimmjow must fight their way through the surrounding chaos. Heads-up: epic zombie head-busting, Keigo's idiocy, & pairings inside.
1. Dawn of the Dead

"Kurosaki! Hey, Ichigo!" Silence. "OI! Kurosaki!"

Ichigo blinked his eyes open and slowly lifted his head off of his arms. "What do you want, _Arisawa_?" he grumbled.

Tatsuki grinned wickedly. "Skipping class again, huh?" she asked, walking to stand next to him. "You'll have to repeat the grade if you keep doing that."

"Hypocrite, you're skipping too," he pointed out. "Besides, I have a good reason to skip."

She raised an eyebrow. "And that reason would be…?"

"Calculus sucks."

They both laughed good-naturedly, before Tatsuki slapped him hard on the back and said, "I'd better get going. Mr. Kutsuzawa will kill me if I miss any more of his class." She turned to look back at him. "And I suggest you do the same."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ichigo muttered, looking out over the school campus. This was why he liked to hide out on the roof while cutting class: the view was excellent.

His eyes wandered past the front doors, through the lawn, and near the Recreational Busses when something caught his eye. It was a figure, most likely that of a man, slowly hobbling to the school entrance in a very strange way.

"Hm. What's that?" Ichigo thought, and only after Tatsuki walked back over to his side did he realize that he had said it aloud.

She saw what Ichigo was staring at and laughed. "I looks like a zombie," she joked before walking back down the staircase.

Ichigo glanced at his watch. There was still twenty minutes until the period was over, so he had some time to shoot.

_I'm thirsty, _he thought. _I guess I'll go get a coke. _As he walked down the stairs and through the hallway to the vending machine, he looked out the windows and could see the same figure he had watched on the roof, still stumbling around as if he was drunk. Except now, he was surrounded by a group of people.

_Weird. Maybe the drama club's rehearsing a play or something. _Ichigo stopped, and once again, watched what was going on below.

He leaned on the windowsill and narrowed his eyes in order to get a good look at what was going on. Then suddenly, all hell was let loose as the figure bent down and seemingly bit the arm of one of the people down there. "Oh, god!" Ichigo yelled, straightening up and covering his mouth with his hands.

Had it all been part of the act? No, it couldn't be, he had seen blood, real blood, spurt out of the wound…and now the person was writhing in pain on the ground…

Forgetting all about getting a drink, Ichigo whipped around, planning to go get help, only to find his teacher standing right behind him.

"Well, well, well, look who's been skipping class!" She said, whacking him on the head with a textbook.

"Ochi-sensei, look down there, something bad's happened—"

"Come on, Kurosaki, let's get you back to the room, I've got a group of students waiting for me," Ms. Ochi said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away.

"You don't understand, someone just got bitten—"

Ms. Ochi rolled her eyes. "Enough with the nonsense, Kurosaki. I daresay you've skipped enough class today."

Ichigo knew there was no use in arguing, and thus allowed himself to be pulled back to calculus.

"Hey everyone, look who's decided to join us today!" Ms. Ochi called out to the class. Several kids laughed, but most remained silent; Ichigo was rather intimidating, after all.

As he took his seat, he looked around the room, hoping to make eye contact with one of his friends. He didn't see Renji or Chad in class today, but managed to catch Uryu's glance and tapped on his laptop to signal that he wanted to talk.

**_Uryu_Ishida: _**_What is it?_

Ichigo waited a few seconds to make sure no one was watching before responding to Uryu's instant message.

**_Ichigo_Kurosaki: _**_Something weird's going on. I just saw this guy start biting people in the courtyard._

**_Uryu_Ishida: _**_You're joking?_

**_Ichigo_Kurosaki: _**_I'm dead serious._

**_Uryu_Ishida: _**_Do you want me to check it out?_

**_Ichigo_Kurosaki: _**_I guess. Just say you're going to the bathroom._

**_Uryu_Ishida: _**_Okay._

**_Ichigo_Kurosaki: _**_Wait, where's Renji and Chad?_

**_Uryu_Ishida: _**_Absent or skipping._

**_Ichigo_Kurosaki: _**_K._

Uryu raised his hand. "Ochi-sensei—"

"BEEP!" He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the intercom. _"Attention all students and teachers. This is the headmaster. We are now in panic mode. Please lock the doors and remain inside your classrooms."_

"I _told _you!" Ichigo stood up and yelled at his teacher.

Ms. Ochi just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Since you're up, Kurosaki, go lock the door for me."

Ichigo angrily stormed over to the door, reaching to lock it, when he made the mistake of looking out the window into the hallway.

There were bodies, bodies everywhere. Except they weren't on the floor, motionless; they were moving around, walking, opening their mouths impossibly wide and biting into flesh. "Holy shit!" Ichigo yelled. He covered his mouth with his hands in disgust and stumbled away from the door.

"We have to get out of here," he gasped.

"Yeah, NO. The headmaster said to stay in the classroom," Ms. Ochi said pointedly.

Ichigo's jaw dropped. "Do you _see _what's going on out there? If we stay in here, we'll get bitten and turned into one of them!" he growled.

She smiled sweetly. "Fine. If you want to leave and risk expulsion and/or being exposed to whatever's out there, be my guest."

"Come on, Ishida, we're leaving this place," Ichigo said. He stormed over to the window and flung it open.

"What…?" Uryu said quietly, but he immediately followed.

"Bye, you guys!" They could hear Ms. Ochi yell as they climbed down the wall. "I'll put some flowers on your graves!"

The two boys kept climbing until they reached a small balcony on the second floor that they could take refuge on for a few minutes. Panting slightly, they both squatted over and placed their hands on their knees.

"Are you…sure this was a good idea?" Uryu asked.

Ichigo looked at him darkly. "You didn't see what I saw out in the hall. If we stayed in the classroom, we would've been attacked for sure."

"What's…what's out there?"

"You're going to think I'm insane when I tell you this, but…" Ichigo started.

"Go on."

"It looked like bodies. Dead bodies. Walking around and banging on classroom doors and stuff," he choked out.

Uryu raised an eyebrow. "You mean zombies?"

"Yeah. That."

Uryu's eyes widened and his hand flew to his mouth. "Damn it!" he whispered.

Ichigo straightened up. "What's wrong?"

"O-orihime. She's not too far from here. D'you think we could go get her?"

"Yeah, sure," Ichigo said. He knew how important saving Orihime would be to his friend; Uryu had liked Orihime for two years now. "And that reminds me, I should probably tell Tatsuki about what's going on too. You ready to roll?"

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>Tatsuki shifted her position in the hard plastic chair she was sitting in and curled a piece of her long, spiky black hair around her finger. <em>I should have never come back, <em>she thought. _This is so boring. _

Suddenly, her phone vibrated, interrupting her trail of thoughts. Mr. Kutsuzawa had gone to the teacher's lounge, so she hurriedly pulled it out and checked it.

**From: **Ichigo

**Message: **Remember that person we saw a little while ago? That's what's causing this lockdown. It's some zombie-like epidemic. No joke. You need to get out of there, and bring anyone you care about too. Climb down the window and meet us at Class 2-B.

_Ichigo, what the hell? _Ignoring the abnormality of the message, Tatsuki got out of her seat. She didn't believe all of the zombie hocus-pocus, but thanks to Ichigo, she had an opportunity to skip class. Why not take it?

Tatsuki stopped at the window and turned around, looking out over the class. Finally, she found her target "Asano! You're coming with me," she said, grabbing Keigo by the collar and dragging him towards her.

"W-where are we going?" he gasped.

"To meet Ichigo at class 2-B."

Mizuiro, who had been eavesdropping, hopped up to join them. "Ooh, a field trip? I'll come, too."

"Well," Tatsuki said, ignoring the curious looks of her fellow classmates, "I hope you two are good climbers."

* * *

><p>"So, how are we supposed to do this?" Uryu whispered. They were standing outside the P.E. supply closet, with Ichigo digging inside hurriedly.<p>

"We can sneak up using the emergency staircase," Ichigo grumbled as he tossed a metal bat into Uryu's hands.

"Er, okay. Judging by what you saw earlier, I'd say if you get bit, you get turned into one of them."

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, that's why I gave you the bat. Smash their heads in, but only if they come after you. Only if you have to." Finally, he came out of the shed, carrying a long, spiked rake and several other bats with him.

"She's in class 2-B, you know."

"Yeah. I already told Tatsuki, she's meeting us there."

They just stood there few seconds, before a scream broke the silence.

"What happened?" Uryu breathed.

"They must've realized everyone was inside the classrooms."

"And…?"

"Broken through the doors." Sure enough, just then, the hall outside began to flood with people and the _things _Ichigo had seen in calculus.

"We've got to go before she runs off and gets herself killed," Ichigo said.

They raced up the staircase, trying to go as fast as possible without making too much noise and giving off their location. The second floor wasn't too far down from the shed, but class 2-B was all the way at the end of the hall. They reached their landing and cautiously opened the door, afraid of what might be on the other side.

Just like below, the hall was filled with zombies, but they didn't seem to notice Ichigo or Uryu.

_They can't see,_ Uryu mouthed. Ichigo nodded, and quietly, they began to make their way down the corridor, praying that their friend would still be safe.

The two were getting closer. They could see the door now. It was ajar, with light flooding out of it. Ichigo reached to grab the handle, when—_clank. _

A bat fell out of Ichigo's backpack, and the head of every _thing _in the hall twitched in their direction.

"Oh, shit. RUN!" Ichigo yelled. They raced inside and slammed their backs onto the door to keep the zombies from breaking in.

Uryu coughed. "O-orihime? Are you in here?" There was silence. Then, after a few seconds, a muffled squeak came from the corner of the room.

"Orihime?" Ichigo called.

"I-ichigo? Uryu? Is that you?" a nervous voice said softly.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it's us. We're here to protect you. Are you okay?"

Finally, Orihime came around the corner and into his view. She was shaking, but she didn't look hurt.

She opened her mouth, blushing violet, but her voice seemed to get caught in her throat. "Y-yeah! Yeah, I'm p-perfectly fine!"

Uryu backed away from the door for a split second and jammed a desk against it. "Where's the rest of your class?"

Orihime looked down at her shoes. "Well, uh, they went outside to do an experiment, but I—" she sneezed "—I've got allergies, so the teacher said it would be best if I just stayed inside." Her eyes widened as she continued on, "And t-then, I heard the announcement and went to go close the door, and I saw th-those things out there and hid in the closet."

The two boys laughed nervously. "Well, we're just glad you're alright. Now, don't you think it's time to get out of here?" Ichigo said, pointing to the window.

Orihime blushed furiously. "Th-that sounds like a _really _good idea!"

* * *

><p>"Holy shit," Tatsuki murmured. "Ichigo was right."<p>

Keigo bit his lip. "What do we do now, Tatsuki?"

"Shut up, idiot."

His eyes twitched. "I-idiot? I'm not an idiot!" he cried.

"Don't lie to yourself, Keigo," Mizuiro said with a sweet smile.

"Hm. Ichigo said to meet up at class 3-B…or was it 2-B? It doesn't matter, though, because going back inside the building would be suicide," Tatsuki thought aloud. "Of all the places to meet, why would Ichigo choose the Juniors' science classroom…? Unless—" she gasped.

"What is it?" Mizuiro asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Class 2-B! Of course! That's _Orihime's _classroom! They were going there to save her!"

"So?" Keigo asked grumpily.

Tatsuki smacked her fists together. "So we have to go up there."

"I thought you just said it would be suicide!"

"Orihime's my best friend," she snapped. "I'm willing to die trying to save her."

"We'll need weapons to defend ourselves from the zombie-things," Mizuiro pointed out.

Tatsuki grinned. "Correction: _you'll _need weapons. I'm the captain of my Dojo, I think I can defend myself." Turning around, she pulled two metal arm braces out of her backpack and put them on. Her grin grew even wider as she pressed a button on either side, causing long, one-inch spikes to come out of the sides and knuckles.

Keigo wimpered. "Please don't kill me."

"Oh, and for you guys…" Tatsuki grabbed a broom from the wall beside them and broke it in half. "This will have to do for now. I'm ready. You ready? Okay, let's go."

* * *

><p>It was dark. All was silent. She moved through the piles of bodies that she had just recently silenced, towards the figure of a woman in front of her.<p>

"A-are you—?" the woman whispered.

"Watch out," she said as she swung her wooden sword at the zombie behind her. Black blood sprayed out everywhere, and she swiftly cleaned the blade of her sword on a small, bloodied cloth.

She exhaled deeply and extended the woman a hand as she began to walk forward. "I'm the captain of the Kendo Club. My name is—AHG!" she tripped over a fallen student's body. "Stupid—freaking—_bodies! Why _do I keep tripping over stuff? WHY? Is it just because I'm short? UHG!"

The woman stared at her as she straightened up and regained her composure. "Phew. Sorry about that. I'm Rukia Kuchiki, and that bunny shirt you've got on is _adorable."_

Author's Note

Ta-da~! New story :3 For those of you who have watched HOTD, I apologize for any major similarities between the anime and this Fanfic, as it is, after all, supposed to be based on the show.

And don't worry, a few of our favorite Espada will come into the story soon.

Please write a review, they make me happy.

Later,

-Potter/JediEspada


	2. Drive from the Dead

The woman stared at Rukia wide-eyed as she cleaned her sword off again. "You're the counselor, aren't you? Neliel, right?"

Neliel opened her mouth, but no words came out for a few seconds. "I…uh…yes! Yes, I am!"

Rukia smiled and lent her a hand. "C'mon, we need to get going. As you can probably tell, the school's under attack by zombies—"

The counselor gasped. "Zombies? Is it really true?"

"Naw, I'm really not sure what they are, I just dunno what to call them, so—"

Nel covered her eyes with her hands and squealed. "Oh no! We need to get out of here before the zombies eat out brains!"

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Er, were you even listening to anything I just said?"

Suddenly, Nel straightened up, eyes wider than tennis balls, and grabbed Rukia by the forearm. "Come, kendo girl! I know how we can get away!"

* * *

><p>"Tatsuki—" <em>smack. <em>Tatsuki's arm brace slammed into the face of another zombie, and Keigo's stomach lurched at the awful sound that occurred upon contact.

"What is it, Asano?" she asked carelessly.

"I…I don't really see anyone else here…anyone else that's _alive, _that is," he stammered.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "And your point _is?" _

"Y-you don't think everyone else has been bitten, do you?"

She paused for a second. "Yeah, pretty much."

_"WHAT?" _he screamed. "You mean we're the only one's left?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And hey, don't scream, dumbass, you'll attract more of them," Tatsuki snapped.

Keigo buried his face in his hands. "Why must she always make me look like an idiot?" he sobbed.

"It's not her fault, Keigo, I'm sure it just comes to you naturally," Mizuiro said lightly.

For the past ten minutes, the three of them had been slowly making their way up to class 2-B. Surprisingly, there hadn't been many of _them _to fight off, and Tatsuki was pretty much the only one taking care of the zombies that did attack. Even still, Keigo and Mizuiro gripped their broomstick-halves tightly, prepared to help at any time.

"How far away are we?" Keigo panted. He had been lagging behind for a while now; even though he was skinnier than a stick of pawky, he was still a godawful runner.

"About twenty feet," Mizuiro supplied.

"Oh, wow," Tatsuki laughed. "Time flies when you're having fun, huh?" They stared at her. "It was a _joke, _guys."

They both chuckled uneasily, and at the count of three, moved into the room.

"It's—" Keigo started.

"Empty," Tatsuki interrupted. "I don't understand. Ichigo said to meet here, why would he not come? Unless he's dead…"

"Oh, look," Mizuiro said boredly. "The window's open."

Tatsuki gasped. "That's it! They had to escape out the window! If we go ahead and go out too, maybe we can still catch them!"

"More climbing?" Keigo groaned. "_Great."_

* * *

><p>"Um, Ms. Oder—uh, Odel—I mean, um—"<p>

"You can just call me Nel."

Rukia nodded. "Right. Nel, where exactly are you taking me?"

She turned around, and the two girls stood face-to-face. "My car, of course! I'm leaving this place, and since you saved my life back there, I suppose I'll have to take you, too!" she cried, whipping back to face the other direction and tightening her grip on Rukia's arm.

Rukia breathed in slowly. "Wait. Don't you think we should try to pick up some of the other survivors, too? Does your car have room?"

Nel sighed, clearly disappointed. "Yes, I suppose so…"

* * *

><p>"Aha! Yes! There they are!" Tatsuki yelled as she pointed a finger at Ichigo, Uryu, and Orihime, who were only about fifty yards away.<p>

"Shush, be quiet, remember?" Keigo said. Tatsuki ignored him and ran up to her friends.

"Orihime!" she cried, tackling her in a giant hug.

"T-tatsuki! I'm so glad you're alright!"

Ichigo turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw that his friends had arrived safely. "Oh, hey, you guys made it."

Tatsuki gave him a lighthearted punch in the arm. "What happened to 'meet in class 2-B'?"

"About that—"

Tatsuki shook her head. "You know, never mind, I'm just glad you're okay." To his surprise, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a short hug as well. In the background, Keigo glared at him.

"Oh, hey, Mizuiro," Ichigo said, completely disregarding Keigo.

"Hi. Oh, and hello, Ishida," Mizuiro said as he turned to face Uryu. "How are you?"

As he lifted a finger to push his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose, Uryu replied, "Despite the situation, quite well. And yourself?"

Mizuiro opened his mouth, but before he could answer, a smooth, crimson-coloured sports vehicle pulled up right beside him.

Keigo cocked his head to the side, shocked. "Hey, that's…"

Mizuho Asano stuck her head out of the car. "Mizuiro, baby, get in! We've gotta get out of here!"

Mizuiro smiled happily. "Okay, then," he said, walking over and climbing in the passenger's seat. Mizuho started the car up again and prepared to drive away.

"H-hey! Mizuho! What about me?" Keigo called nervously.

Laughing dryly, Mizuho pushed down on the petal once more. "Ha! I'm just here to pick up my boyfriend. There's no room for idiot little brothers in my car," she had time to yell before driving away.

Keigo's eye twitched. "D-did you just say BOYFRIEND?" he yelled back as Mizuiro gave him a small wave goodbye.

Tatsuki sighed. "Keigo, by now you should know that Mizuiro's dated practically every Senior in the school."

"B-but she's my _sister!" _

Uryu snapped his fingers, calling for attention. "Okay, people. As of now, there are five of us here, two of which don't have proper weapons."

Ichigo threw a bat to Keigo and Orihime. "Problem solved."

Nodding, Uryu continued. "Good. Now, we need to find a way out of the school grounds and into the city. Since this is a boarding school, I'm guessing none of you have your own cars?" Everyone nodded. "Then we'll have to go on foot, which is doable."

"Wait," Tatsuki said, looking concerned. "What do we do when we get out of here? Most of us live at the school, and our parents are hundreds of miles away, so we have nowhere to go. And what if the, er, zombie-things are in the city, too?"

Uryu hesitated. "Alright, I'll be blunt; more than likely, these things _are _in the city. I mean, whatever epidemic caused this outbreak had to come from somewhere, didn't it? That being said, after we escape from the school, we'll have to leave the city too, if not the country—"

Orihime gasped. "Let's try to be optimistic, please," she whimpered. A collective sigh came from the group, and she broke down in tears. "I-I just can't b-believe this is h-ha-happening!" she sobbed.

There was a small silence until Ichigo raised his bat. "What's that?"

Orihime sniffed. "I-it looks like people. Are th-there more survivors?" she asked, looking hopeful.

"Those aren't _people!" _Uryu grabbed her arm and pulled her back a bit.

"Oi, here they come!" Ichigo yelled.

"Uryu, stay here with Orihime! Asano, get your ass over here and let's fight these things off!" Tatsuki snapped.

The three of them charged forward, Keigo somewhat reluctantly. Tatsuki took the left, Ichigo the right, and Keigo stayed stranded in the middle.

One by one, they began to pick off the zombies, either by smashing their heads in or stabbing them through their hearts.

_Thwack. _Tatsuki embedded her spikes into another zombie's head, covering her with more blood. She whirled around as decaying hands began to reach for her from behind, and there were at least five of them standing there, ready to bite into her flesh.

Tatsuki stumbled back and fell, landing on the ground, totally helpless. "H-hey, Ichigo! I need a little help here!" she yelled, panicked, but Ichigo was too far away to hear her.

One of them lurched forward, and she shielded her eyes. _Shlunk. _Blood covered her body, and she gingerly opened her eyes. "K-keigo?"

He smiled weakly, lifting his bloodied bat proudly. "I'm not _always _useless, am I?"

* * *

><p>"Drive around back. There, there, THERE! No, you missed the exit! Here, let me—"<p>

"Hey, don't order me around! I _am _your elder, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but we're kind of IN THE MIDDLE OF A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, and you just missed where you were supposed to turn!"

"Oh, well I am _so _sorry about that—"

"Don't give me that sarcastic tone, woman! I just saved your life!"

"Psh, I could've handled it by my—AHG!" Nel jerked on the steering wheel, sending the car flying to the left in order to avoid hitting a few kids who looked like they were still human for the time being.

Rukia's eyes widened and she hurriedly threw open the passenger side door. "I know them! That's Orihime Inoue from class 2-B and Uryu Ishida from class 3-A!"

Nel opened her mouth to say something, but after realizing that Rukia was already gone, she murmured to herself, "_Fine. _I guess I'll just wait here, then."

* * *

><p>"O-orihime? Hey, it's me, Rukia!"<p>

Orihime whipped around so fast that her long orange hair flew up and hit Uryu in the face. "Rukia? _Rukia! _I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried as she ran forward to embrace the girl that she barely knew.

"Um, hi," Rukia said in surprise. "Uh, hey, listen, I've got the school counselor with me in the car over there, we need to get out of here, and you guys should kind of come with us if you want to live—"

Orihime opened her mouth and held a finger up in front of Rukia's face. "Wait, you can't leave yet! Ichigo and the others are over there fighting some of the, um, things off. We can't go without them!"

Rukia looked over at the three kids fighting and sighed. "You sent _Ichigo Kurosaki _and _Keigo Asano _to protect you guys? One's got no motivation whatsoever, and the other's too dumb to tie his own shoes…let me show them how it's done," she said with a wicked grin.

And with that, she was off running towards Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Keigo, anxious to show them "how it was done".

As she ran, she laughed quietly and pulled her sword out of its sheath. _Thwack. _A zombie fell to the ground, and Ichigo turned around, shocked.

"Hello, Kurosaki," Rukia said with a wide smile. "I've come to save the day."

Ichigo laughed slightly in disbelief. "Rukia Kuchiki, huh? Good to see you could make it," he said as he gave her a high-five.

Rukia blushed. She didn't know him very well, but he _was _pretty good looking, after all. "Enough talking, let's get going," she said coolly, turning her back on him and engaging in combat once more.

_Slash. Thwack. Splatter. Slash. Thwack. Splatter._ The next few minutes flew by as more and more twice-dead bodies piled up on the ground.

At long last, all was quiet, and Ichigo and Rukia were the only ones still standing for several yards. They both looked at each other, breathing deeply. "Should we go help Tatsuki now?" Ichigo panted.

"No need, Kurosaki," said Tatsuki's voice from behind. "We're already done. Who's the girl?" she asked.

"Rukia Kuchiki. I'm in your year."

Tatsuki nodded. "Ah, cool. I'm Tatsuki Arisawa, and the hyperventilating idiot over there is Keigo Asano."

Orihime came running up. "Rukia! Ichigo! Tatsuki! You've done it!"

"What, no love for me?" Keigo scowled.

"Now, what did you say about a car?" Orihime asked Rukia.

Rukia straightened up lightning-fast. "Oh, yeah! I've got a car over there, it should fit all of us. We need to go."

"Can't we wait a few more minutes?" Tatsuki asked. "I want to check and see if we can find any more survivors."

Rukia shook her head urgently. "No, we _really _need to go, more are coming!" Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing and saw hundreds of walking dead moving towards them, and everyone began to run.

"NEL!" Rukia yelled to the counselor, who was leaning out the window. "PULL UP!" She seemed to get the message. Nel started the car—with Uryu safely inside—and sped towards the group.

"Hurry, inside!" They all piled in, and Rukia slammed the door shut just before taking a seat next to Ichigo. "Floor it!" she told Nel.

"_DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"_

* * *

><p><span>Author's Note<span>

New chapter 3 Hopefully now, things are starting to pick up.

Please review, it only takes five seconds, and they touch my soul (-cheesy line of the day)

Espada in the next chappy, I promise!

Later,

-Potter/JediEspada_  
><em>


	3. The Kitty

"Where are we headed to now?" Ichigo yelled. The screeching tires were making it hard to hear.

"H-how should I know?" Nel called back.

"You _are _the one driving," Rukia said.

"We could try finding our parents," Tatsuki said from the back.

Uryu shook his head. "That would be practically impossible. There are six of us, meaning we'd have to travel hundreds of miles across the country to six different locations. And even then, there's no guarantee that our parents will even be at home any more."

Orihime gasped. "Are you saying that they could be _dead?" _

"More like…evacuating."

Nel turned around to face the kids. "You know, we could always stay over at my place, it's not far from—" BUMP.

"What was that?" Ichigo whispered. Everyone slowly turned around.

"Aww, I _really _hope that wasn't a student!" Nel cried. "That would be _very _bad for my car."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "We just ran over something and you're concerned about your _car?"_

"Hey, we can't go anywhere without it," Tatsuki murmured.

Nel scratched her forehead. "Hmm. Should I go back?"

"Well DUH!" Rukia yelled. "If we really did hit someone, we need to see if they're okay."

"It'll slow us down, though!" Keigo moaned.

Tatsuki sighed. "Ignore the idiot and just turn back."

"Okaaaay, fine," Nel grumbled. She jerked the steering wheel sharply to the left and everyone squished onto the side of the car.

"Watch it!" Ichigo yelled.

"R-Rukia, you're kind of crushing me," Orihime squeaked.

Rukia and Ichigo both scooted to the right. "Sorry about that."

"I see people!" Keigo cried as they approached the site of the "accident".

"Hmm, but no one's dead," Nel muttered. "I guess we can go back now."

Rukia's jaw dropped. "How can you be so nonchalant about this?"

Uryu grabbed Nel's arm to keep her from driving away. "Hey, someone's coming up to the car. You'd better stop."

"I suppose so," Nel said boredly. She swerved the car to the side just as a tall blue-haired kid walked forward. He tapped on the window and Nel rolled it down.

"What the hell was that for?" he yelled exasperatedly. "You just ran over the only bat we had!" The kid held up a strip of metal that was squished like a pancake.

Nel's attitude flared up. "Ha! It was _your _fault that you left it in the middle of the road."

"You could've at least actually _looked _at the road while you were driving instead of cruising around like a maniac—"

"We're in the middle of a ZOMBIE APOCAPLYPSE and you expect me to drive like a cautious old woman? I actually care about _living, _believe it or not—"

Mr. Blue Hair facepalmed himself. "Look, lady—"

"Grimmjow," said a calm voice from behind him.

"What is it, Ulquiorra?" The man named Grimmjow snapped. Orihime craned her neck and looked at the person who had shown up: a tall, pale figure with long, messy black hair and brilliant green eyes.

"Try not to be so short-tempered." Ulquiorra smirked. He leaned forward and whispered in Grimmjow's ear.

"Tch! Like hell they will."

"You could always ask."

Grimmjow inhaled deeply and rolled his eyes, leaning further into the window of the car. "Okay, look. How about we make you guys a deal? You give us a ride to wherever the hell you're going, and I'll forget _all _about the bat incident."

Nel glared at him for a few seconds. "No."

Grimmjow opened his mouth to retort until he saw Uryu tap Nel on the shoulder. "Nel, surely we could make room for them."

With a "hmph," Nel crossed her arms over her large chest and frowned. "I don't want someone with a bad attitude like _him _in my car."

"Maybe if you did the face," Ulquiorra suggested with a cold look that almost resembled a smile.

"No freaking way."

Ulquiorra shoved his hands in his pockets and began to walk away. "Then let's go. I'm tired of waiting here like trash."

"_Fine. _You've left me no choice." Grimmjow sighed and clasped his hands together, then looked up at Nel with giant baby-blue eyes. "_Please _let us get in your car and follow you around like creepers. I _really _don't want to die." He added in one last comical sniff and waited for her answer.

She was silent for a few seconds before the whole car exploded with laughter. "Aww!" Nel squealed. "That was probably the cutest thing I've seen all week!"

"Does that mean yes? Because if I had to do that retarded face for nothing—"

"Yeah, you guys can come in." Uryu slid open the back door and the two boys climbed inside. Ulquiorra sat next to Orihime, who blushed and scooted closer to Rukia, and Grimmjow lazily plopped down in the back seat next to Keigo.

A small giggle came from up front. "You looked kind of like a kitty when you did the face," Nel said.

"DON'T call me a kitty!" Grimmjow snapped. He ran a hand through his spiky blue hair and rolled his eyes again.

Ichigo turned to face him. "What _should_ we call you guys, then?"

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

"Ulquiorra Cifer."

"Weird names," Ichigo muttered. "I'm Kurosaki. Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Nice hair, Kurosaki. Talk about weird."

"Like you're hair's any more normal."

The two grew silent as the van drove out of the small neighborhood they had been cruising through and into the city. Pillars of smoke rose up from practically every building and zombies lurked all around them.

"Ishida was right," Tatsuki whispered.

"Oh no," Orihime choked. She buried her face in her hands and cried.

Uryu looked down at his lap solemnly. "Where to now?" he asked emotionlessly.

"It's six o'clock," Nel said. "We need to find somewhere to stay for the night."

Ichigo nodded. "Somewhere away from the city."

Keigo shook his head. "I can't believe this is happening," he said.

"You should just be glad that I got you out of the school," Tatsuki said proudly.

"Yeah, speaking of that," he started. "Why _did _you decide to save me?" His large, wide brown eyes stared into hers curiously.

"Um…well," Tatsuki looked away nervously for a second. "Because Ichigo _told_ me to get you. Duh," she lied, whipping back around to face him.

"I heard my name," Ichigo said from the row in front. "What's going on?"

"We're just talking about how you told Tatsuki to get me out of the school. I honestly didn't know you liked me that much, Ichi-kun!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "I didn't tell her that. I just said to bring anyone she cared about."

Keigo turned around and looked at Tatsuki. "Huh? You mean—?"

"S-stop jumping to conclusions, idiot. It's not like I saved you because I _like _you or anything. I just thought it was the right thing to do."

"I swear, Tatsuki, you just turned seven different shades of red."

"Shut it, Kurosaki."

* * *

><p>They reached Nel's house before nightfall. It was a small apartment-sized home with large, open rooms covered top to bottom with windows.<p>

"This place is tiny," Grimmjow grumbled. "How are all of us supposed to fit?"

_"You're _not," Nel snapped.

"Hey! What do you mean?"

"You're complete and total strangers that I've known for forty consecutive minutes. I am _not _letting you in my house. You can sleep in the car!" she added cheerfully.

"We _do _need someone to keep watch," Uryu said. "I guess that could be your job."

"I don't think so, four-eyes. I'm not staying up all night and watching over your sorry ass."

"Acting like a fool isn't helping the situation, Grimmjow," Ulquiorra said coldly.

Ichigo sighed. "I guess it IS kind of unfair to just have one person to keep watch. I can rotate out with you at midnight."

"Good," Grimmjow said. Ichigo shot him a look as if to say, "_what, no 'thank you'?" _which he ignored. "Come on, Ulquiorra, let's get back in."

"I never said the black-haired kid couldn't stay inside," Nel spoke up.

Grimmjow shook his head angrily. "Aw, _hell _no—"

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Just give up, kid," Rukia muttered, "Because _she _certainly won't."

* * *

><p>Orihime felt something shuffle across the room. She looked up sleepily and glanced at the clock: midnight. Ichigo must be leaving.<p>

She stumbled haphazardly across the room, careful not to step on anyone. "Ichigo."

"Orihime?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Do you need something?" Ichigo said gently.

Orihime felt tears well up in her eyes again. She needed to stop crying so much. "A-are you going to be okay when you go out there?"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Of course I am. I'll be in the car with my bat. Plus, Nel's house is in the woods. As long as we stay quiet, it'll be hard for anything to find us."

"C-can I go with you?" she asked hopefully. "That way, I _know _you'll be safe!"

"Sorry, Orihime, but no. You need to get some rest. I swear I'll be fine. You have my word." Ichigo smiled kindly at her before walking out the door to take over the watch.

_I need more than your word, Ichigo, _she thought. _I need to be there to protect you. _Slowly, Orihime walked back to her designated sleeping spot. She was surprised to see that the slightly creepy kid called Ulquiorra was up.

"Have you been awake this entire time?" she whispered.

He nodded. "You stepped on my head when you went to go talk to Kurosaki."

"So _that _was what I felt under my foot! Sorry," she added.

"That Kurosaki kid," he started. "Do you really care about him?"

She looked at him with wide eyes and blushed. "Y-yeah…is it obvious that I'm in love with him?"

"I never said 'love'," Ulquiorra said, staring ahead blankly.

"O-oh. So it's _not _obvious?"

He studied her with those green eyes of his. They were beautiful and creepy at the same time. "I wouldn't know anything about love, woman."

Ulquiorra seemed to be finished talking with her, because on that confusing note, he slowly laid his head back down on the small pillow he had been given and closed his eyes.

"Uh, goodnight! Sleep well!" Orihime said quietly as she walked back to her spot.

"Goodnight," Ulquiorra breathed. "You really are a strange girl…"

* * *

><p><span>Author's Note<span>

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH . Sorry, sorry, SORRY! Long time no update. I had trouble writing this chapter.

Anyway, I hope the Espada being there will add to the story and make it a whole lot better.

Chapter 4 will come after I update Ghosts and Death Notes and Just Another Dramatic Love Story, so I'd say... a week to a week and a half.

Later!

REVIEWS=ME GUSTA.

-Potter/JediEspada


	4. Trafficking

Rukia couldn't sleep. But hey, given the situation, was she even _expected _to? She yawned and stood up, stretching. She'd seen Ichigo get up to take his watch, so why not join him?

Stumbling blindly around the dark room, Rukia managed to safely get outside without stepping on anyone (except Keigo, who didn't seem to notice). The second she opened the door, she was hit with a burst of icy, wet air.

"Ah! Cold!" she cried as she sprinted to the car and threw open the door.

"Woah!" Ichigo yelled. As she climbed inside, Rukia noticed that his hand had flown to the bat behind him. _I probably scared him, _she thought. _Oops. _

"Sorry about that," she mumbled.

Ichigo slid the door shut. "It's fine. You can't sleep either?"

Rukia nodded. "Yeah." There was silence for a few seconds before Rukia spoke again. "What're we going to do next? About, uh, you know…"

"Honestly? I have _no _idea."

_Well, that makes me feel a lot better, _Rukia wanted to say. But instead, she kept it polite by just replying, "Okay."

Ichigo ruffled his hair. "Sorry, I know that wasn't very helpful, but, it's the truth."

Another silence followed. Man, it was getting awkward in here. "I just can't believe this is happening," Rukia finally blurted out. Ichigo just nodded, and she continued, "One second it was normal, and then…what's that smell?" A strange odor filled the air. It was sweet and thick, like the scent of perfume.

"I don't—" Ichigo stopped suddenly. His eyelids drooped, and in a split second, he had fallen back against the seat like a marionette cut from its strings.

"H-huh? What's going…?" Rukia felt her own eyes start to close, acting on their own. Her arms started to tingle, her body going slack. _Dammit…_

* * *

><p>"NEL! Hey, get over here!"<p>

"Don't order me around! This is _my _house—"

"I don't give a damn, just come here! Hurry!"

"What is it? I was _sleeping—" _

"The orange guy, uh, Ichigo. He's gone. He was supposed to be doing watch, and now the car's disappeared too."

_"WHAT? _My car's gone?"

"Um, Nel…"

"Yeah, Orihime?"

"Rukia's gone too."

"What? Rukia too?"

"Who's Rukia?"

"Stay out of this, Kitty-boy—"

"'_Stay out of this'? _I was the one who told you the car was stolen in the first place!"

"This is bad…this is really, _really _bad."

"Yeah, we _know." _

"Stop being sarcastic! This is a serious situation! My freaking _car _is gone!"

"What's going on?"

"Who are you again?"

"Ishida. Uryu Ishida."

"Don't give me that look, I'm bad with names."

"It's fine. Just tell me what all the fuss is about."

"Ichigo and the car are gone. Oh, and so is some girl, too."

"I _told _you to stay out of this. But, uh, yeah, he's right. They're all gone. How're we supposed to get anywhere without a _car?"_

"I'm going outside to check things out."

"Let me know what you find, Ichi—Ishi—um…whatever your name was."

"Tch."

"Don't 'tch' me, Kitty Boy."

"Stop calling me that. Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"Hey, Orihime, go wake up the others. We need to tell everyone what's going on."

"Okay!"

_ "Did you just ignore me?"_

"So what if I did, Kitty Boy?"

"I _told _you—"

"Oi! Stop fighting, you two."

"Oh hey, you're awake, Tatsuko."

"_Tatsuki."_

"Heh, sorry about that."

"What did you want to tell us?"

"Well—"

"Hey, wait. Why didn't you wake Ulquiorra up?"

"Ulqui-_whata?" _

"I'm awake."

"AH! Oh god, you scared me, coming out of nowhere like that…But anyway, to the point. Is that everyone? Yeah? Okay, well, you see…Ichigo, Rukia, and my car are all nowhere to be seen."

"RUKIA'S _MISSING?"_

"Shut up, Keigo!"

"What are we going to do?"

"Hey, guys, come check this out."

"Uryu? What is it?"

"I found tire tracks outside."

"So they _did _steal my car!"

"No, they didn't. I also found traces of an anesthesia."

"A what?"

"A knock-out gas, to put it simply."

"Well…"

"Then we've got to go rescue them!"

"Orihime—"

"Do you have anything else we could drive?"

"Well, there's an RV in back—"

"An _RV? _Why didn't you take that in the first place instead of that crappy cramped minivan?"

"'Cause it wasn't at the school, duh!"

"Don't 'duh' me, it makes you sound like a butthurt Kindergartener."

"_What _did you just—"

"HEY! Enough talk, let's get on that RV and follow the tracks before they get washed away."

"All right! It's time to commence Operation: Save Those Two Kids and My Car!"

* * *

><p>Rukia tried to open her eyes, only to be greeted by a very unwelcoming room before her. It was small, dark, and covered in dirt and tanks of gasoline. Splotches of a dark liquid that looked frighteningly similar to dry blood littered the floor and walls. By the stuffy feeling and amount of light coming in, Rukia guessed they were underground.<p>

"Ichigo?" she called out weakly. Her voice was cracked.

"Finally awake, are we?" A voice said from behind her. It wasn't Ichigo's. No, this one was high-pitched. Female. Cold.

Rukia attempted to stand up and realized for the first time that her hands were bound behind her back. So she tried craning her neck, only to find out that _that _was stiff, too. "Who're you? Where am I? What did you do to Ichigo?"

"You ask a lot of questions." _Click. Click. Click. _A pair of high-heeled boots walked over towards her. "Who am I? Like I'd tell you," the voice snarled. "Where are you? Far, far away. And if this spiky-haired kid is who you're looking for, 'Ichigo' is right here."

"Let me see you," Rukia choked out.

"Hm?"

"Bend down so I can see you."

"Why don't you just look up at me?" the voice cooed. "Is your neck too sore?" She laughed sadistically. After a silence, she continued, "I drugged you, you know—"

"Bend down," Rukia repeated.

"Huh?"

"I want to see who you are."

"And why the hell would I let you?" A pair of manicured hands grabbed Rukia by the chin and threw her down, on to her back.

Rukia could finally see who her attacker was. She was tall, young, about high school age. Strangely enough, she seemed to be wearing some variation of a maid's uniform, with her magenta hair tied in pigtails to match.

The door across the room creaked open, and a blond boy with hair obscuring his eyes walked in. "Torturing the captives, are we, Riruka?" he said calmly.

"Yukio, you idiot!" she hissed. "Don't say my name in front of—" she pointed to Rukia.

"Why not? It's not like she's going to be going anywhere any time soon." Throwing her hat at him, Riruka stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door extra loud.

"Really?" Rukia said. "Then what am I here for?"

"A reward," the kid named Yukio answered boredly.

"I don't understand."

"With all of this walking dead stuff going on, people are in a mass-panic, so it's easy for us to kidnap kids like you, steal your stuff, and demand a ransom from your parents…or whoever you're with. And of course, if they don't come in two days, we'll sell you to someone willing to buy."

_Human trafficking. _Rukia's vision started to blur again. "H-how will our group be able to find this place, though?"

Yukio laughed. "We left tire tracks the size of craters leading from your house all the way here. Your lot would have to be pretty dense not to get the hint. Though…" he glanced at a watch on his wrist. "Your two days will be up in ten hours. Maybe you _are _traveling with a group of idiots." Yukio stood up to walk away.

"Wait!" Rukia called. He turned around expectantly. "Ichigo…the guy behind me…did you do anything to him?"

"No."

"Then why hasn't he woken up yet?"

He shrugged. "Some people just have different reactions to anesthesia." And with that, he was out the door.

_What's taking them so long? _Rukia thought desperately.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Note<span>

_Finally _this story is getting somewhere XD Hopefully you guys enjoyed the addition of the fullbringers. Oh, and just a heads-up, the next chapter will be kind of strange, but bear with me. (Yes, that's right, for once, I _actually _have the chapter planned out in advance! Shocker!)

-Jedi Espada


End file.
